New election laws delayed after EU and social media giants object

New laws enabling the State’s democratic watchdog to regulate political advertising and combat misinformation during elections have not been brought into operation following concerns raised by the European Commission and objections by social media giants.

The Electoral Reform Act was passed by the Oireachtas last year, and a new body, the Electoral Commission, was set up this year to run and monitor elections and referendums. Under the Act the commission has been given extensive powers to monitor and regulate election campaigning online, including paid advertising. The Act also confers significant powers on the commission to enforce its decisions on internet and social media companies.

However, parts 4 and 5 of the act, which contains these powers, have not been commenced by the Minister responsible, Darragh O’Brien, and it is unclear when they will be brought into operation.

The European Commission expressed some concerns about the new powers, and the Government agreed to pause the implementation of the Act pending further discussions.

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Although the initial “standstill” period of 90 days has long elapsed, Mr O’Brien’s department said that “it is not proposed to commence parts 4 and 5 of the Act until all issues raised by the European Commission have been satisfactorily addressed”.

However, the European Commission said it was waiting to hear back from the Irish Government on proposals to deal with their concerns.

Proposals for an EU-wide approach to protecting and policing elections online are currently being discussed in Brussels, senior officials said, and it is hoped that EU regulations will be drawn up later this year or early next year. However, officials could not say that these would be in place before next year’s local and European elections, and are unlikely to be as extensive as the powers under the Irish Act.

The Irish Times has also learned that social media and internet companies lobbied Government intensively against the measures even after their enactment in the legislation. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the head of Google in Ireland, Kent Walker, expressed his concerns directly to the Taoiseach in July of last year when he said they “would prove very difficult for both the regulator and industry to operate in practice”, according to a note of the conversation prepared by a senior civil servant.

Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister and senior Facebook executive, also raised concerns about the new powers under the Act, suggesting that they “require consultation with stakeholders”, according to another Civil Service note.

Earlier this week The Irish Times reported that US authorities had warned foreign governments, including the Irish Government, that Russia may seek to interfere with their elections by using online misinformation.

The Electoral Commission said the new legislation would give it powers “to regulate online paid political advertising ... [and ] to investigate and monitor online disinformation, online misinformation and manipulative or inauthentic behaviour online during election campaign periods, as well as functions to prevent manipulative or inauthentic behaviours online”.

It said that once the sections are commenced by the Minister it will seek to align its enforcement policies with other EU initiatives and regulations.